100 Days of Trump

Saturday 29th of April marked President Trump’s 100th day of holding office in the White House. For many, this has been a period of immense terror, fear and essentially pure horror as to what will be unleashed by him and his administration. This feeling has been reflected in the presidential popularity ratings which are by all accounts, historically low compared to his most recent predecessors, sitting around (and frequently below) 40 percent.

Trump blames the United States Constitution for this unpopularity, claiming that the Constitution is a ‘rough’ and ‘archaic’ system that is a ‘bad thing for the country’. Since being in office he has failed to get any of his priorities into legislations, and has attempted to rule by executive order, which so far has either been meaningless (tax reform), or his travel ban on seven mostly Muslim countries and refugees, blocked by the courts. However he still maintains a core of supporters that remain faithful to him and believe that the first 100 days have been ‘so far, so good’ and that the president is bringing ‘God back’.

How about instead, we forget about the apparent interference of the Constitution and Trump’s apparent ‘promises made, promises kept’, and look at what the first 100 days has really been like.

He began with a battle with media over the crowd size at his inauguration, labelling the media as perpetrators of alternative facts. Then there was the aforementioned travel ban, and [?] the executive order that reinstated the global gag rule which prevents international health groups from receiving federal funding for informing on or performing abortions. All of this occurred within the first few days of his presidency, and since then things seem to be ever on a continual downward spiral. Most of all, his actions seem to be pushing the world down the road to World War Three. And you’d think that by now, more than 72 years since the ending of World War Two, we might’ve learnt a thing or two.

In early April, the Trump administration launched missiles on an airbase belonging to the Syrian government, following a deadly chemical weapons attack. This directly contradicted a tweet published by him in 2013 that said ‘we should stay the hell out of Syria’. In fact, it contradicts 18 tweets made by him from 2013-2014 which condemned Obama’s handling of the Syrian conflict and that we should not be involved. The strike was directed to harm Assad’s government for the heinous act of using chemical weapons – before there was confirmation of who had issued the attack, and this fact is still being investigated.

Recent information has revealed that the strike didn’t damage anything valuable to the Syrian government and that Russia (Syria’s staunchest backer) was warned prior to the attack. In fact not just Russia, but peaceful nations such as New Zealand were also warned in advance. Interesting development, considering Trump has claimed he doesn’t want people to know what he is thinking and that if he did go into Syria “it would be by surprise, not blurted all over the media”.

So it seems that there is an intention to increase the world’s fears of a global conflict, as Trump’s decision to strike Syria was that of a ‘weakened politician needing to flex his muscles’ according to the Chinese News state agency, Xin Hua. However it seemed to have a desired effect, with Trump receiving a surge in popularity by mainstream media outlets that so frequently denounced him.

The focus is now turned to North Korea. Trump has claimed that the North is looking for trouble, with calls that the US naval force was being sent to the Korean peninsula. Just two days ago, Trump warned that the US could end up having a ‘major, major conflict with North Korea’, with North Korea providing the biggest global challenge. There has been calls to implement sanctions, and suspend or downgrade diplomatic relations to ‘denuclearise the nation’. Yet it is the opinion of China that this grave tension can only be diffused by diplomacy, something Trump appears to be refuting. Earlier today, amid these escalating tensions with the North Korean nuclear programme, he said he had no idea if North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was sane, but later referred to him as being a ‘pretty smart cookie’.

Not only is there the threat of North Korea on the horizon, but the seriousness of Trump’s attack of Syria, a foreign government, which is an unconstitutional act of aggression that has led to the Syrian’s government allies announcing that they will respond with force the next time such an act occurs, a fact which is frankly terrifying, and keeps driving home the imminent threat of a global war.

It seems we are treading on eggshells, with everyone just waiting in trepidation for Trump to make his next mistake.

Only 1360 days to go.

This article (100 Days of Trump) was written exclusively for The TV’s Leaking and may not be reproduced in any way, shape or form without permission from the author.